A Night to Remember
by LaurieLovesErik
Summary: The Yule Ball is coming up, and Ron is working up the courage to ask out a certain bushy-haired bookworm. This follows the plot up to the fourth book, except Viktor Krum hasn't made his move yet and Ron doesn't ask Fleur to the ball.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot.**

Harry sighed as he trudged in from the Quidditch field, tracking mud across the carpets. He flopped down on his bed, showing no concern that every inch of him was covered in sweat and rainwater.

Asking Cho to the ball hadn't gone as he'd expected—Diggory had beaten him to the task.

He punched the wall and then cursed at his throbbing fist. Perhaps assaulting a stone wall hadn't been the best idea, after all.

In his mind's eye, he envisioned Cedric and Cho waltzing around the dance floor, Cedric and Cho gazing _lovingly_ into each other's eyes, Cedric and Cho kissing... He stopped there, before he could become sick. And yet, he knew full well that he would be far from nauseous if he was the one in these fantasies instead of Cedric.

Ron burst in through the doors, looking sick himself.

"Oy, what's wrong with you?" He shot.

"Harry...d'you...well, d'you think I should ask." He stopped suddenly and blushed so deeply, Harry couldn't tell where his hairline began and his forehead ended.

"Do I think you should ask Trelawney to go with you on the next Hogsmeade visit? No, I don't." He said sharply, and glared at the ceiling.

Damn Diggory. Damn him and his stinking '_chiseled features_'...

"Well, who pissed in your morning pumpkin juice?" Ron shot back, equally as irritated. "Anyway...d'you think I should...askHermionetotheball?" He stared down at the floor, determined not to make eye contact.

"It's about bloody time. Go do it now, before she decides to go all feminist on us and blow it off."

"_Now?_" Ron choked. He wasn't sure he would be able to ask without puking all over her, and even he knew that wasn't likely to go over well.

"Yeah. Go ask her, I think she's still in the common room."

"O...okay." Ron stood up, puffed out his chest, and seemed to mutter 'you're the man' to himself before leaving the room.

Harry smirked to himself. It was only a matter of time before Ron and Hermione started going out, he thought to himself. He just hoped that he wouldn't be the third wheel...

Then another image akin to the one with Cedric and Cho entered his mind, only with Ron and Hermione. In this image, he was sitting a few feet away as they swallowed each other's tongues, looking bored out of his skull...

He cursed, and opened his worn copy of Quidditch through the Ages.

OOOoooOOO

Ron made it down the stairs before a flash of red hair sent him sprawling.

"Oy, little bro, who're you taking to the ball?" Fred grinned cockily as George mimed slow dancing next to him, humming tunelessly.

"None of your business," he mumbled and tried to dodge them. Then he caught a glimpse of Hermione, and the sick feeling returned to the pit of his stomach.

Fred and George followed his gaze, and grinned as they elbowed him so hard, he thought one of his kidneys had been punctured.

"I do believe ickle Ronniekins has a crush on Hermione." Fred chortled and winked impishly.

"My keen senses tell me the same, Fred. Perhaps we should inform her as to our bitty brother's affections..." George responded with a cheeky grin.

"Shut up, you prats." Ron hissed, and ducked to hide his burning cheeks.

George slapped a hand to his heart and Fred shook his head shamefully.

"Such language...now we will most certainly need to tell her. Perhaps we should ask her to the ball for him, too, since he seems to be incapable of speech at the moment?" George or Fred, Ron couldn't really tell in his state, said.

Indeed, Ron found his mouth to be quite useless, merely opening and closing soundlessly as he tried to think of a retort.

"Why, Fred, I think that's exactly what he wants!" George exclaimed, and the two of them sauntered over to the couch where Hermione was quietly finishing her monstrously long Potions essay.

"Good day, Miss Granger." The twins said in unison, and inclined their heads toward her.

"I'm not doing your Transfiguration homework again, if that's what you want." She replied without taking her eyes off the parchment.

"While I am quite hurt that you would even _think_ that of me," George continued as Hermione's left eyebrow shot up. "It's actually our little brother who has a question for you."

"Think you're laying it on a bit thick, mate." Fred patted his twin's arm, and then shoved a beet-red Ron in front of them.

"Yes?" Hermione asked uninterestedly, still scribbling furiously. "Ron, just ask me whatever it is at dinner. I only have five more inches to go..."

"O...okay." He turned to leave again, but Fred held him firmly in place.

"Ask her, you git." He said fondly.

"Um...Her..Hermione?" He started.

Every head in the common room swiveled towards them.

"Yes?" She was still looking down at the parchment.

"Willyougototheballwithme?" He choked out.

Hermione looked up, just for a second, and gave a tiny nod.

"Yes." She said simply.

And then Ron took the opportunity to throw up on Fred's trainers.

A/N: Thank you for reading, and I hope you drop a review!


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I still don't own any of this. Sigh.**

Ron vaguely recalled the common room breaking out into a smattering of applause, and Fred slapping his back a bit harder than necessary. He also remembered running up to the dormitory as fast as his wobbly legs could carry him.

"Well?" Harry was still sitting on his bed, and he had an expressly grumpy look on his face.

"She said...yes." Ron squeaked. He wasn't quite sure if it had really happened. Then a thought occured to him and he cursed himself.

"What do I do now?" He choked.

Harry looked bemused. "What do you mean, 'what do I do'? She's your date, mate."

Ron nodded quickly.

"Besides, she probably thinks you're a bit of a prat—didn't you just run off and leave her in the common room?"

Ron's face fell. He had only just asked Hermione to the ball—and he was already screwing things up.

Harry knew he was being harsh, and he felt a tad guilty at Ron's miserable expression.

"Cheer up, mate. I bet she's pretty happy right now, being asked to the ball, and all." Harry himself had no idea if this was true or not (he had never understood girls,) but it seemed to perk Ron up a bit. Then his face fell, and he moaned.

"Harry, I almost puked on her."

"Oh...well, maybe she thought it was cute."

OOOoooOOO

"Bit strange, that one." Fred eyed his trainers in disgust, and then muttered _scourgify_ as Ron's regurgitated lunch vanished.

"Never was one to contain his excitement." George grinned. He noticed Hermione was a bit pink in the cheeks, and winked at her.

"Ooh, wee 'Mione's _blushing_. How sweet..." Fred and George batted their eyelashes, and made kissing noises.

At least, they did until Hermione hexed them, and they discovered their mouths were unable to open.

OOOoooOOO

Breakfast the next morning was an awkward affair.

Harry and Ron arrived to find a rather pink-cheeked Hermione sitting at the Gryffindor table who choked on a large sip of pumpkin juice when they greeted her.

"Good...good morning, Harry. Ron." She added, and kept her eyes fixed on her breakfast plate.

They sat in silence for the next few minutes. Hermione seemed very interested in her copy of the Daily Prophet, and Ron was quite engaged with devouring six pieces of bacon and four slices of heavily buttered toast.

Harry had managed to forget about Cho and Cedric until he saw them enter the hall together, and stiffened in anger when he saw Diggory's arm around the latter's waist.

He briefly wondered if he could successfully perform a jelly-legs jinx from thirty feet away when he was interrupted by a rather giggly "Hi, Harry!"

He looked up, and saw Lavender Brown standing behind him, her plait bedecked with what appeared to be a monstrously large monarch butterfly.

"Um...hello, Lavender." He replied uninterestedly, insides still churning at the sight of Diggory's_ filthy_ arm around Cho.

"I was wondering...are you going to the ball with anyone?" She giggled and batted her eyelashes with almost as much fervor as Fred and George.

"No." He said rather harshly as he watched Cho grab Diggory's hand.

"Well, would you like to go with me?" She asked hopefully, twirling her braid with her left hand.

"Sure." He finally looked at her, and tried to muster up as much enthusiasm as he felt the situation called for.

"Really? Great! I'll see you around, then!" She smiled brilliantly and bounced off towards a rather sour-looking Parvati Patil.

Harry was not particularly enthused by his date, but knew that Lavender was viewed as pretty by the majority of Gryffindor's male population, and would hopefully make Cho regret turning him down.

Dean Thomas looked at Harry incredulously at Harry. "How d'you manage to get one of the best-looking girls in the year to ask _you_ to the ball?"

"Perks of being the 'Chosen One.'" Seamus added, grinning. "'Least we ended up with the Patil twins, though, mate."

"True." Dean admitted. Then he grinned and looked over at Hermione and Ron, who were both blushing furiously and not acknowledging each other's presence.

"So, are you two going out?" He asked Ron, who turned several shades redder than Neville's rembrall.

"Uh..." His voice trailed off, and he peeked at Hermione out of the corner of his eye. "I...dunno. Are we?" He asked her helplessly.

"I...I don't know." She said, taken aback. "Do you want to?" She asked timidly.

"Yeah, if you do." He managed.

"Alright, then." She managed a small smile as she gathered her book bag, and sat next to him awkwardly for a second.

She cocked her head tentatively, then gave him a peck on the cheek and sped off in the other direction.

Ron seemed shell-shocked, and touched his cheek slowly.

"Did...what just...did she?" He finished lamely, his eyes still as wide as saucers.

"Yeah, mate." Harry smiled in spite of himself, and Dean and Seamus both high-fived Ron.

He sat in shock for a few more seconds until a stupid grin spread slowlyacross his face.

"Wow." Was all he said, until Snape swooped down upon them.

"How touching." He snarled. "Five points from Gryffindor for inappropriate public displays of affection." He hissed the last word, and then strode off toward the dungeons.

"Aw, it's worth it, mate." Seamus grinned. "Bet you he hasn't been shagged in twenty years," he whispered to Harry and Dean.

Harry and Ron said their goodbyes, then headed off to Potions as they tried to rid their minds of several highly inappropriate mental pictures of their potions master.

A/N: Again, I love reviews... hint, hint :)


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